[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5722-5726]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 5722]]

      THE OCCASION OF THE BICENTENNIAL OF THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, as Chairman of the Joint Committee on the 
Library, it is my great pleasure to congratulate the Library of 
Congress, and Dr. Billington, the Librarian on the occasion of the 
Library's Bicentennial. The Library is America's oldest Federal 
cultural institution, and was established on April 24, 1800. It houses 
the largest and most extensive collection in history, and is one of the 
nation's assets. Congress is very proud of the Library, and the role it 
plays in ensuring free public access to information. As we move forward 
into the new millennium, efforts are underway to enhance public access 
to the collections of the Library through the National Digital Library.
  The Library has planned a wonderful day of activities on Monday, 
April 24, in honor of Thomas Jefferson's birthday. It was Thomas 
Jefferson's collection of 6,487 books that first began the Library's 
collections. The events include the issuance of the first bimetallic 
commemorative coin, and a postage stamp featuring a color photograph of 
the interior dome and several of the arched windows in the Jefferson 
building. At noon there will be a birthday party and concert outside on 
the East Lawn of the Capitol.
  I ask unanimous consent that the following message from the Librarian 
of Congress, and press announcements of the exhibits and events 
associated with the Bicentennial of the Library be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

   Library of Congress Bicentennial Celebration--A Message from the 
                   Librarian of Congress, March 2000

       The Library of Congress--America's national library and 
     oldest federal cultural institution--will celebrate its 
     Bicentennial in the year 2000. We want to make our 200th 
     birthday a national celebration of the important role that 
     libraries play in our democratic society. Our goal is to 
     inspire creativity in the century ahead by stimulating 
     greater use of the Library of Congress and libraries across 
     the country.
       The centerpiece of this effort is an unprecedented project 
     called ``Local Legacies,'' an attempt to celebrate and share 
     with the nation the grassroots creativity of every part of 
     America. The Library of Congress will ask each Member of 
     Congress to lead an effort to find or create documentation 
     for at least one significant cultural event or tradition that 
     has been important to or representative of your district or 
     state as we reach the end of this century. Selections from 
     each documentation project will be forwarded to the Library 
     and added to the rich collections of our American Folklife 
     Center's Archive of Folk Culture to provide a rich cross 
     section of the grassroots creativity of America that will be 
     preserved and shared with future generations.
       We also plan to digitize selections and share them 
     electronically, free of charge over the Internet, through our 
     National Digital Library Program. All participants and each 
     Member of Congress will be credited with helping locate a 
     distinctive contribution from his or her district or state. 
     This is an especially exciting and historic initiative 
     because we hope to receive and celebrate the widest possible 
     range of contributions, including video, sound, print, 
     manuscript and electronic formats.
       Several other bicentennial activities embrace the broadest 
     participation of all Americans and encourage an understanding 
     of the creative roles that libraries play in modern society 
     and in social scholarly discourse. Included among them are 
     symposia such as ``Frontiers of the Mind in the 21st 
     Century,'' which brought together distinguished scholars who 
     examined the exciting horizons for knowledge in the century 
     ahead in a symposium held in June and now available on the 
     Library's Web site (www.loc.gov). Poet Laureate Robert 
     Pinsky's ``Favorite Poem'' program will create audio and 
     video archives of Americans of all ages and backgrounds 
     reading their favorite poems. Two commemorative coins and a 
     stamp will be issued in honor of the Library's 200th 
     birthday, April 24, 2000. Also on that day, the Library will 
     launch a new education Web site for families that will 
     complement our widely acclaimed American Memory site for 
     students and teachers. Another special initiative, ``Gifts to 
     the Nation,'' will encourage benefactors to bring rare and 
     important acquisitions to the national collection in the 
     Library of Congress.
       I invite you to learn more about our Bicentennial, and I 
     encourage you to participate in the programs and activities 
     marking our 200th birthday. As you reflect on our nation's 
     accomplishments as we near the end of the century, you may 
     recall the Jeffersonian principle upon which the Library of 
     Congress was built--that free access to information and 
     knowledge is one of the cornerstones of democracy.
                                              James H. Billington,
     The Librarian of Congress.
                                  ____


                   Bicentennial Celebration Announced


 library of congress to offer new web site, stamp, coins, exhibits and 
                                concert

       General Colin Powell, Katharine Graham, Isaac Stern, 
     William Styron, David Copperfield, John Kenneth Galbraith, 
     Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Maurice Sendak, Bobby Short, and Big Bird 
     are among those who will be honored as ``Living Legends'' 
     during a day-long National Bicentennial Birthday Party and 
     Concert celebrating the 200th anniversary of the founding of 
     the Library of Congress on Monday, April 24, beginning at 
     9:30 a.m. The Library of Congress is America's oldest federal 
     cultural institution and the largest library in the world.
       Other events on April 24 include:

     First-day ceremonies for a new Library of Congress postage 
         stamp and commemorative coins
     Launch of a new Web site for young people and their families
     Unveiling of a national public service advertising campaign 
         in partnership with the Ad Council
     Free performances and concert celebrating American music, 
         history and culture and recognizing the contribution of 
         the ``Living Legends''
     Opening of a major exhibition on Thomas Jefferson and another 
         on ``The Wizard of Oz''

       Key press dates prior to April are:
     Press Briefing, 10 a.m., Friday, April 14, National Press 
         Club, 529 14th Street NW
       Bicentennial press briefing with Librarian of Congress 
     James H. Billington on the Library's efforts to address the 
     digital divide. He will also announce the final details of 
     the April 24 celebration, the new books just published on the 
     Library of Congress, and the full list of the ``Living 
     Legends'' whose creativity the Library is honoring in its 
     Bicentennial year.
     Exhibits Preview and Light Lunch, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m., 
         Thursday, April 20, LJ 119, Thomas Jefferson Building
       Members of the press are invited to preview two new 
     exhibitions created for the Library's Bicentennial: ``Thomas 
     Jefferson'' and ``The Wizard of Oz: An American Fairy Tale.''
       The Jefferson exhibition includes the display of 
     Jefferson's library. It marks the first time since 1815 that 
     the public will be able to view Jefferson's library, the seed 
     from which the collections of the Library of Congress grew, 
     in his original order. The books have been reassembled after 
     a worldwide search to locate matching volumes, identical to 
     those that were destroyed in a fire in 1851. Numerous 
     additional personal items will be displayed exploring the 
     contradictions and complexities of Jefferson the man, the 
     myth, and the model, including materials relating to the 
     Hemings family, the founding of the United States and the 
     earliest known draft of the Declaration of Independence in 
     Jefferson's own hand.
       ``The Wizard of Oz: An American Fairy Tale'' brings 
     together approximately 100 items relating to this children's 
     classic, including play scripts, rare books, photographs, 
     costumes, drawings, film clips, dolls, games and toys. A pair 
     of the ruby slippers (size 5B) worn by Judy Garland in the 
     1939 film will be displayed, along with the scarecrow costume 
     worn by Ray Bolger, the mane and beard worn by Bert Lahr as 
     the Cowardly Lion, a full Munchkin costume and an Emerald 
     City townsman's coat.
       Curators will provide press tours of the two exhibitions.
     Celebration, All day, Monday, April 24, Thomas Jefferson 
         Building
       9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.--Great Hall: First day of issue stamp 
     and coin ceremonies. Stamps and coins on sale.
       11 a.m.-11:45 a.m.--Visitors' Center: Press Preview. Launch 
     of americaslibrary.gov, a new entertaining Web site for 
     children and their families. New public service advertising 
     campaign unveiled for television, radio and Web.
       Noon-2 p.m.--Jefferson Building grounds: Free performances 
     and concert honoring American Voice and Song, featuring:

     The Saturday Night live Band
     Kevin Locke and Reuben Fasthorse
     Ralph Stanley and The Clinch Mountain Boys
     Dianne Reeves
     Mickey Hart and Bob Weir
     Kan Kouran Dancers
     Pete Seeger and Tao Rodriguez
     Kathy Mattea
     Tito Puente
     Giovanni Hidalgo
     The Army Blues

       12:30 p.m.--Photo op, Main stage outside of the Thomas 
     Jefferson Building: Librarian of

[[Page 5723]]

     Congress James Billington will be joined by ``Living 
     Legends'' and Big Bird and Maria of ``Sesame Street'' in 
     blowing out the candles on a large birthday cake in the shape 
     of the Thomas Jefferson Building.
       6:30 p.m.--Great Hall: Remarks by David McCullough and 
     Librarian of Congress James H. Billington and opening 
     reception for ``Thomas Jefferson'' exhibition. By invitation 
     only; open to press to cover.
                                  ____


 Library of Congress Celebrates Bicentennial With Major Exhibition on 
                            Thomas Jefferson


       jefferson's library reassembled for first Time since 1815

       The keystone for the Bicentennial celebrations of the 
     Library of Congress is an exhibition about the Library's very 
     own ``founding father,'' Thomas Jefferson, whose personal 
     library of 6,487 books was the seed from which the nation's 
     library grew. Congress purchased Jefferson's library after 
     its own collections, housed in the U.S. Capitol, were burned 
     by the British in 1814.
       That library--the original volumes that came to Washington 
     in carts from Monticello--will be a major feature of the 
     ``Thomas Jefferson'' exhibition. Because of an 1851 fire in 
     the Library, many of those original books had been lost. 
     Spurred by a very generous donation of Jerry and Gene Jones, 
     as a Bicentennial ``Gift to the Nation,'' the Library has 
     been reassembling copies of the same editions of the works 
     that Jefferson held. The reconstituted Jefferson's library 
     should be more than 90 percent complete by April 24.
       The display of Jefferson's library as part of this 
     exhibition will be the first time ever that the public will 
     be able to view Jefferson's library. It is also the first 
     time that the volumes have been assembled in one place in the 
     original order that Jefferson himself devised since the 
     collection came to Washington in 1815. Visitors to the 
     exhibition will be able to tell which volumes were owned by 
     Jefferson and sold to Congress in 1815, which were recently 
     identified and pulled from the Library's general collections, 
     which have been recently purchased, and which are still 
     missing.
       ``Thomas Jefferson'' will be on view in the Northwest 
     Gallery and Pavilion of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 
     First Street S.E., from April 24 through October 31. Hours 
     for the exhibition are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
       Items from the exhibition are available on the Library's 
     Web site at www.loc.gov, and by April 24 the Library's entire 
     collection of Jefferson Papers (more than 25,000 items) will 
     be accessible on-line.
       Thomas Jefferson--founding father, farmer, architect, 
     inventor, slaveholder, book collector, scholar, diplomat and 
     third president of the United States--was a complex figure 
     who contributed immeasurably to the creation of the new 
     republicanism in America. Wherever Anglo-American culture has 
     shaped political and intellectual developments, Jefferson is 
     almost inevitably part of the mix. Drawing on the 
     extraordinary written legacy of Thomas Jefferson that is held 
     in the Library's collections, the exhibition traces 
     Jefferson's development from his earliest days in Virginia to 
     an ever-expanding realm of influence in republican Virginia, 
     the American Revolutionary government, the creation of the 
     American nation, the revolution in individual rights in 
     America and the world, the revolution in France, and the 
     burgeoning republican revolutionary movement throughout the 
     world. Items borrowed from other institutions contribute to 
     the exhibition's attempt to offer viewers a fully rounded 
     portrait of the nation's third president.
       The exhibition focuses on the complexities and 
     contradictions of Thomas Jefferson, the man, the myth, the 
     model. He was simultaneously an unquenchable idealist and a 
     third-headed realist. He deplored inequality among men, but 
     owned slaves, supported servitude, and relegated women to a 
     secondary role. He supported freedom of the press until his 
     own foibles and politics became the focus. He was a firm 
     believer in the separation of church and state, but he was 
     often accused of being anti-Christian. He expounded the 
     virtues of public education, ensured that his own daughters 
     were well educated, and founded a public university at 
     Charlottesville, but he assumed that access to higher 
     education would be strictly limited. His life embodies the 
     public and private struggles of life in a democratic 
     republic.
       Some 150 items in the eight sections will illustrate and 
     provide a context for the life and character of Thomas 
     Jefferson. The final and ninth section will be the 
     reassembled ``Jefferson Library.'' Visitors to the exhibition 
     will see such items as the only surviving fragment of the 
     earliest known draft of the Declaration of Independence as 
     well as the desk on which he composed the Declaration; Martha 
     Jefferson's thread case; Jefferson's instructions to Lewis 
     and Clark; political cartoons of the day lampooning 
     Jefferson; and the last letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to 
     the mayor of the city of Washington just 10 days before he 
     died, espousing his vision of the Declaration of Independence 
     and the American nation as signals of the blessings of self-
     government to an ever-evolving world.
       ``Life and Labor at Monticello'' examines how Jefferson's 
     family, his era, education, role as plantation master and 
     slaveholder, and his love and use of books influenced his 
     character and the formation of his ideas on individual and 
     institutional rights and limits. Items include:
       Thomas Jefferson's Memorandum Book, 1773, where he kept 
     detailed records on his expenditures including the purchase 
     of slaves;
       Plantation account books kept by Jefferson's wife and then 
     his granddaughter, recording purchases made from Monticello 
     slaves, especially the Hemings family, for vegetables and 
     fowl from the slave families' own flocks and gardens;
       The 1873 memoir by Madison Hemings published in the Pike 
     County (Ohio) Republican, who testified that his mother, 
     Sally Hemings, gave birth to five children ``and Jefferson 
     was the father of them all.'' Historical evidence, both 
     circumstantial and direct, documentary and oral, along with 
     DNA testing in 1998, substantiates Hemings' assertion;
       Letters Jefferson exchanged in 1791 with Benjamin Banneker, 
     a free black living in Maryland, in which Jefferson praised 
     Banneker's mathematical accomplishment (``no body wishes more 
     than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit, that nature has 
     given to our black brethren, talents equal to those of the 
     other colors of men * * *'') as well as with Abbe Henri 
     Gregoire in 1809 trying to explain why he asserted the 
     inferiority of African Americans in his Notes on the State of 
     Virginia published in 1785; and
       Letter written by Thomas Jefferson to John Adams in 1815 in 
     which he says, ``I cannot live without books, but fewer will 
     suffice where amusement, and not use, is the only future 
     object.''
       The exhibition continues by demonstrating the expanding 
     influence of Jefferson on American life and his interest in 
     creating a culture based on republican principles--first in 
     his own state of Virginia, then on the federal scene with his 
     drafting of the Declaration of Independence and his election 
     to the presidency in 1800. On view are:
       One of the nation's greatest treasures--Jefferson's 
     ``original Rough draught'' of the Declaration of 
     Independence. The ``Rough draught'' is the final draft 
     presented by Jefferson to his fellow committee members and 
     indicates changes made by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin;
       Fragment of the earliest known draft of the Declaration of 
     Independence in Jefferson's hand;
       An 1806 document in President Jefferson's hand calling upon 
     Congress to end the practice of importing slaves as soon as 
     permitted by the U.S. Constitution in 1808; and
       Notes on the State of Virginia, 1785, the only book ever 
     published by Thomas Jefferson.
       ``The West'' explores Thomas Jefferson's persistent 
     fascination with the vast part of the continent that lay 
     beyond Virginia--an area he never saw--and his conviction 
     that the new nation had to expand westward in order to 
     survive. A highlight is Jefferson's instructions to the 
     explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark before they set 
     out to map and explore the Western territories with their 
     Corps of Discovery in 1803. Visitors can also see a Nicholas 
     King manuscript map documenting the Lewis and Clark 
     expedition that is annotated by Lewis with information from 
     fur traders and Native Americans.
       The influence of Jefferson's republican ideas were felt far 
     beyond America, especially in France, his first experience on 
     the world stage beyond America. He became an ardent supporter 
     of the French revolution and often consulted with Lafayette 
     during the drafting of the French Declaration of the Rights 
     of Man. In a July 9, 1789, letter to Jefferson, Lafayette 
     asked him for his ``observations'' on ``my bill of rights'' 
     before presenting it to the National Assembly. On view in the 
     exhibition is a manuscript copy of the French Declaration 
     written in a clerical hand, with emendations in the hand of 
     Thomas Jefferson. Also in the exhibition is the 1789 passport 
     that Thomas Jefferson used upon his return from France, 
     signed by King Louis XVI.
       The exhibition concludes with ``Epitaph: Take Care of Me,'' 
     which reviews Jefferson's own evaluation of the meaning of 
     his life and his thoughts about how he would be viewed by 
     history. Key items here are: A sketch and wording for 
     Jefferson's tombstone, in his own hand; A letter explaining 
     his position on slavery, written just six weeks before his 
     death; A letter to Jefferson from his granddaughter, Ellen 
     Randolph Coolidge, despairing of the ``canker of slavery'' 
     that oppresses the Southern states; and A newspaper account 
     of the sale of Jefferson's slaves by his heirs in order to 
     pay off estate debts.
       A volume accompanying the exhibition, Thomas Jefferson: 
     Genius of Liberty, includes an introduction by Garry Wills 
     and essays by Jefferson scholars Pauline Maier, Charles A. 
     Miller, Annette Gordon-Reed, Peter S. Onuf and Joseph J. 
     Ellis. Published by Viking Studio, the hardcover volume is 
     highly illustrated with mostly color images and sells for 
     $35. It is available in major bookstores and from the 
     Library's Sales Shops; order with major credit card by 
     calling (202) 707-0204.

[[Page 5724]]

     
                                  ____
          Commemorative Coins and Stamp Issues for the Nation

       The Bicentennial of the Library of Congress presents a 
     unique opportunity for commemorative items. Commemorative 
     coins and a commemorative stamp for the Library's 
     Bicentennial will be issued on April 24, the Library's 200th 
     birthday.
       The Citizens Commemorative Coin Advisory Committee 
     recommended enactment of legislation to mint a commemorative 
     coin to honor the Library of Congress's Bicentennial. As one 
     of only two commemorative coins to be issued in 2000, this is 
     an extraordinary honor for the Library. The Library's coin 
     will be the nation's first bimetallic coin (gold and 
     platinum) and the first commemorative with the new millennium 
     date.
       The minting of commemorative coins requires passage of 
     legislation by both chambers of the U.S. Congress. The coin 
     bill (H.R. 3790) was passed by the House of Representatives 
     on August 4, 1998, and by the Senate on October 6. President 
     Clinton signed the bill into law as P.L. 105-268 on October 
     19, 1998. The design of the commemorative coins by sculptors 
     and engravers at the Philadelphia Mint is under way.
       The Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, a group of 
     independent citizens appointed by the Postmaster General to 
     review the more than 40,000 suggestions for stamp subjects 
     received by the U.S. Postal Service annually, recommended a 
     commemorative stamp for issuance in honor of the Library's 
     birthday. Ethel Kessler, the designer of the breast cancer 
     stamp, designed the Library's Bicentennial commemorative 
     stamp, which features a photograph by Michael Freeman of the 
     interior dome and several of the arched windows in the main 
     Reading Room in the 1897 Thomas Jefferson Building.
       The stamp will be issued on April 24, 2000, during a 
     ceremony to be held in the Jefferson Building in Washington. 
     From April 25 through May 31, state and local libraries 
     across the country will hold issuance ceremonies to celebrate 
     the Library's birthday and to applaud the important role of 
     libraries throughout the United States.
       How You Can Participate: If your library or other 
     institution would like to sponsor a second-day-issue event, 
     contact Kathy Woodrell in the Bicentennial Program Office at 
     (800) 707-7145 or [email protected].
                                  ____


                           The Local Legacies

       The Local Legacies project is an opportunity for citizens 
     to participate in the Library of Congress's Bicentennial 
     Program. Working through their U.S. senator or representative 
     and with hometown libraries, folklife organizations and other 
     local cultural institutions, Americans everywhere have been 
     participating in an unprecedented effort to document the 
     cultural heritage of communities throughout the nation.
       What is a local legacy?
       It is a traditional activity or event that merits being 
     documented for future generations. A Local Legacy might 
     include the music, crafts or food customs that represent 
     traditional life. Examples of defining or signature events 
     include a rodeo, powwow, auction, market-day celebration, 
     parade, procession or festival. Local Legacies might also 
     include the artistry of individuals performing traditional 
     music or dance, or working at crafts or trades. From zydeco 
     music to decoy carving, rodeos to dogsled races, parades to 
     food festivals, the Local Legacies project is reaching into 
     every corner of the nation to document America's folk 
     heritage.
       More than 1,000 Local Legacies projects, which were 
     selected by members of Congress in every state and the 
     District of Columbia, celebrate the nation's diversity as a 
     source of its strength and vitality. As a whole, the projects 
     will serve as a snapshot of everyday life in America at the 
     turn of the 21st century and will be preserved in the 
     Library's Folklife Center and made available for study by 
     others.
       On May 23, the Library of Congress will celebrate these 
     cultural and historical contributions to the Bicentennial 
     with participants and their Congressional representatives. 
     Selections from the Local Legacies projects will be digitized 
     and shared electronically over the Internet at www.loc.gov, 
     where Americans for generations to come will be able to learn 
     about their cultural heritage.
                                  ____


              A New Collection of America's Favorite Poems

       Poet Laureate of the United States Robert Pinsky launched 
     the Favorite Poem Project with poetry readings in New York, 
     Washington, Boston, St. Louis and Los Angeles in April 1998, 
     during National Poetry Month. A part of the Library of 
     Congress Bicentennial celebration, the Project has created 
     audio and video archives of Americans of all ages, 
     backgrounds and walks of life reciting their favorite poems. 
     At the heart of this initiative is Mr. Pinsky's belief that 
     poetry is meant to be read aloud.
       ``The archives will be a record at the end of the 
     millennium of what we choose and what we do with our voices 
     and faces, when asked to say aloud a poem that we love,'' 
     said Mr. Pinsky, appointed Poet Laureate in 1997 by Librarian 
     of Congress James H. Billington. Mr. Pinsky is serving an 
     unprecedented third term as Poet Laureate.
       The two long-term goals of the Favorite Poem Project are to 
     promote the reading and appreciation of poetry and encourage 
     the teaching of poetry in schools nationwide. Collaborating 
     with Mr. Pinsky are the New England Foundation for the Arts, 
     which administers the program, the Library of Congress, which 
     is the home of the Poet Laureate, and Boston University.
       The Project aims to record up to 1,000 Americans saying 
     poems that they love. Mr. Pinsky will deliver the first 50 
     audio and video segments to the Library of Congress as part 
     of a Library-sponsored poetry symposium scheduled for April 
     3-4, 2000. The audio and video tapes will become a permanent 
     part of the Library's Archive of Recorded Poetry and 
     Literature. ``This will be a gift to the nation's future: an 
     archive that may come to represent, in a form both individual 
     and public, the collective cultural consciousness of the 
     American people at the turn of the century,'' said Mr. 
     Pinsky, a professor of English and creative writing at Boston 
     University.
       For information on the Favorite Poem Project, visit the 
     Project's Web site at www.bu.edu/favoritepoem/.
                                  ____


      New Radio Series to Air for Library of Congress Bicentennial

       ``Favorite Poets.'' a series of four one-hour programs of 
     American poets interviewed by Grace Cavalieri, will air on 
     public radio during National Poetry Month, April 2000, In 
     Washington, D.C., the series will be heard on WPFW-FM on 
     Sundays at 9 p.m. on April 16 and 23. (Check listings for 
     local dates and times.)
       Guests on the series are U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, 
     former Poet Laureate Rita Dove, and Pulitzer Prize winners 
     Louise Gluck and W.S. Merwin. The poets, recorded at the 
     Library of Congress, honor the Library's Bicentennial 
     celebration on April 24, as well as National Poetry Month.
       Each program presents the poets reading their work, a 
     discussion of the writing process, and a portrait of the poet 
     through conversation and interview, with an entertaining look 
     at the personal and poetic lives of each of these literary 
     figures. The poetry archives at the Library are among the 
     largest and most comprehensive in the world.
       Grace Cavalieri, host of the series, is a familiar voice on 
     public radio, having presented more than 2,000 poets through 
     her program ``The Poet and the Poem'' on WPFW-FM from 1977 to 
     1997. She has had 11 books of poetry published, and a number 
     of her plays have been produced throughout the country and 
     Off-Broadway. She has received the Allen Ginsberg Award for 
     Poetry, the Pen Syndicated Prize for Fiction, and the Silver 
     Medal from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for 
     ``entertainment and innovation in radio.''
       ``Favorite Poets'' will be distributed nationally via NPR 
     satellite, Interested listeners should contact their local 
     public radio stations for times and dates of airing. The 
     program is a Bicentennial project of the Library of Congress 
     with funding provided by the Madison Council, the Library's 
     private sector advisory group.
       For more information on the 200th birthday celebrations of 
     the Library of Congress, call (202) 707-2000 or visit the 
     Library's Web site at www.loc.gov.
                                  ____


    New Book Celebrates 200-Year History of the Library of Congress

       America's Library: The Story of the Library of Congress, 
     1800-2000 by James Conaway will be published in April by the 
     Library of Congress in cooperation with Yale University 
     Press. The publication is one of several planned to celebrate 
     the Library's Bicentennial on April 24, 2000.
       The Library was founded in 1800 with the primary mission of 
     serving the research needs of the United States Congress. 
     During the past two centuries the collections have evolved 
     into the largest repository of knowledge in the world and are 
     accessible to all Americans. The Library maintains a 
     collection of nearly 119 million books, maps, manuscripts, 
     photographs, motion pictures, sound recordings and digital 
     materials in some 460 languages.
       ``In America's Library, James Conaway invites you to learn 
     the story of this great and complex institution, during its 
     two centuries of development, as the men and women within its 
     walls collect, preserve, and make useful the heritage it 
     holds,'' said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. 
     ``Its collections represent and celebrate the many and varied 
     ways that one generation has informed another.''
       This lively account of the Library of Congress is filled 
     with an immense cast of characters ranging from presidents, 
     poets, journalists, and members of Congress to collectors, 
     artists, curators, and eccentrics. The author focuses the 
     Library's 200 year history on the 13 men who have been 
     appointed by presidents to lead the Library of Congress. He 
     investigates how the Librarians' experiences and 
     contributions, as well as the Library's collections, have 
     reflected political and intellectual developments in the 
     United States. Each Librarian confronted great challenges: 
     the entire Library collection was lost when the British 
     burned the Capitol in 1814, and rebuilt a year later with 
     Thomas Jefferson's personal library; in the 1940s, a

[[Page 5725]]

     backlog of 1.5 million objects waited to be cataloged; the 
     gigantic task of replacing the card catalog with a 
     computerized system was undertaken in the 1980s. In the 
     1990s, the current Librarian, Dr. Billington, has expanded 
     the reach of the institution nationwide through the National 
     Digital Library Program (www.loc.gov). The Library's widely 
     acclaimed Web site is one of the most heavily used in the 
     federal government.
       Yet each Librarian also enjoyed the excitement of acquiring 
     unique treasures--from Walt Whitman's walking stick to the 
     papers of the Wright brothers, from the Civil War photographs 
     of Mathew Brady to the archives of Leonard Bernstein. The 
     thrill of using these collections in the Library's Thomas 
     Jefferson building is conveyed in the book's introduction, 
     ``One Writer's Library,'' by biographer Edmund Morris:
       ``Those lights, those glowing rectangles and portholes, are 
     windows into the central repository of our nation's cultural 
     intelligence: a cerebellum, a sanctum of free thought forever 
     energized by the spirit of Thomas Jefferson.''
       Conaway is the author of eight books, including The 
     Smithsonian: 150 Years of Adventure, Discovery and Wonder, 
     copublished by Smithsonian Books and Alfred A. Knopf in 
     connection with the Smithsonian's 150th anniversary 
     celebration in 1996. He is the former Washington editor of 
     Harper's and has written for many publications: Civilization, 
     The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times Magazine, National 
     Geographic, and Preservation.
       America's Library--a 256-page, hardbound book--is available 
     for $39.95 in major bookstores and from the Library of 
     Congress Sales Shops (Credit card orders: 202-707-0204).
                                  ____


    The Wizard of Oz is Saluted in Library of Congress Bicentennial 
                               Exhibition

       The ``yellow brick road'' leads to the Library of Congress 
     on April 21 with the opening of an exhibition marking the 
     100th anniversary of one of America's most beloved stories, 
     The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The Library's Copyright Office 
     registered this work by L. Frank Baum in 1900, and it has 
     gone on to become one of the most profitable and well-known 
     copyright ever issued.
       Since its publication, the book has outsold all other 
     children's books in numerous editions. It has also inspired a 
     long series of sequels, stage plays and musicals, movies and 
     television shows, biographics of Baum, scholarly studies of 
     the significance of the book and film, advertisements, toys, 
     games and all sorts of Oz-related products.
       Drawing on the Library's unparalleled collection of books, 
     posters, films, sheet music, manuscripts and sound 
     recordings, ``The Wizard of Oz: An American Fairy Tale'' 
     examines the creation of this timeless American classic and 
     traces its rapid and enduring success and its impact on 
     American popular culture. It can be seen in the South Gallery 
     of the Great Hall of the Thomas Jefferson Building from April 
     21 through September 23. Hours for the exhibition are 10 a.m. 
     to 5:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
       Approximately 100 items in a variety of formats will be on 
     view from the Library's collections, including play scripts, 
     rare books, photographs, posters, drawings, manuscripts, 
     maps, sheet music and film, as well as three-dimensional 
     objects such as figurines, dolls, games and toys. The Library 
     will supplement its own large holdings with items borrowed 
     from other museums, libraries and private collectors.
       Of particular interest to visitors of the exhibition will 
     be items related to the classic 1939 film ``The Wizard of 
     Oz,'' including a pair of the ruby slippers (size 5B) worn by 
     Judy Garland as Dorothy; the sacrecrow costume worn by Ray 
     Bolger; the mane and beard worn by Bert Lahr as the Cowardly 
     Lion; a Munchkin costume; and an Emerald City townsman's 
     coat. These are supplemented with publicity shots and 
     photographs taken on the set of the film, related sheet 
     music, recordings, magazine advertisements, posters and lobby 
     cards, from the Library's own collections. Clips from other 
     Oz films--from early silents to ``The Wiz''--will be shown on 
     a video kiosk.
       L. Frank Baum's ability to make fantastic circumstances 
     seem plausble, combined with illustrator W.W. Denslow's 
     striking color plates and line drawings, produced a volume 
     that was innovative both in style and presentation. The first 
     edition of the book, along with the original copyright 
     application handwritten by Baum, will be on display along 
     with six of the black-and-white Denslow illustrations for the 
     book. Some of Baum's pre-Oz books will be shown, along with a 
     selection of other books set in the ``Land of Oz'' authored 
     by Baum.
       Children especially will be fascinated with the selection 
     of Oz-related souvenirs and novelties including plates, 
     figurines, games, greeting cards, Christmas ornaments, music 
     boxes, paper dolls and coloring books.
       For nearly 130 years, the Copyright Office in the Library 
     of Congress has served as America's ``national registry for 
     creative works.'' The 1870 law that centralized the copyright 
     function in the Library of Congress--and set up the copyright 
     deposit system that systematically brings two copies of every 
     item registered for copyright to the Library--helped to 
     create the unequaled national collections that form the core 
     of today's Library of Congress.
       Through the copyright records, one can trace the career of 
     Frank Baum, America's great fantasist, who lived from 1856 to 
     1919, beginning with the 1882 copyright registration for 
     Baum's first theatrical venture, Maid of Arran, to the 
     publication of the last book in his Oz series, Glinda of Oz, 
     published in 1920.
                                  ____


 New Book Features the Architecture of the Library's Thomas Jefferson 
                                Building

       The Library of Congress: An Architectural Alphabet will be 
     published in April by the Library of Congress in cooperation 
     with Pomegranate Press. The publication is one of several 
     planned to celebrate the Library's Bicentennial on April 24, 
     2000.
       Across the street from the United States Capitol in 
     Washington, D.C., stands the first of the three Library of 
     Congress buildings. The Thomas Jefferson Building, completed 
     in 1897 and named for the president in 1980, is a landmark in 
     the nation's capital as well as one of the country's great 
     architectural treasures.
       ``At the heart of all our efforts stands the Jefferson 
     Building, a heroic structure that is at once celebratory, 
     inspirational, and educational,'' said Librarian of Congress 
     James H. Billington. ``Few places represent human aspiration 
     in such dramatic fashion.''
       The Library of Congress: An Architectural Alphabet opens 
     doors into many of the extraordinary spaces and features that 
     rest within the 600,000 square feet enclosed by the 
     building's historic walls. The book offers an illustrated 
     tour of the Library's art, architecture, and sculpture, 
     created by some 50 artists and artisans. From A (for arch) to 
     Z (for zigzag), it explores the Jefferson Building's unusual 
     architectural details--egg-and-dart molding, helixes, jambs, 
     pilasters, quoins, spandrels, tripods, vaults, and even an X-
     motif printer's mark. Illustrations and descriptions are 
     joined by a colorful alphabet drawn from the Library's 
     collection of rare books and manuscripts.
                                  ____

       Visitors must allot many hours to see all of this 
     landmark's 409,000 cubic feet of granite, 22 million red 
     bricks, 500,000 enameled bricks, 2,165 windows, 15 varieties 
     of marble, untold numbers of classical columns, and millions 
     of items. Compact in a 9-by-9-inch format, the Architectural 
     Alphabet is a wonderful place to start.
       The Library of Congress: An Architectural Alphabet--a 64-
     page, hardbound book, with 29 color photographs--will be 
     available for $17.95 in major bookstores and from the Library 
     of Congress Sales Shops (Credit card orders: 202-707-0204).

                          Gifts to the Nation


national collections, endowed chairs, endowed curatorships and national 
                      focal points of scholarship

       The Library of Congress occupies a unique place in American 
     civilization. For nearly 200 years, the Library has collected 
     and preserved our national cultural heritage. The collection 
     of nearly 119 million items housed in the Library represents 
     America's ``creative legacy,'' and ranges from books, maps 
     and manuscripts to photographs, motion pictures and music. 
     Copyright deposits have been a major source for the Library's 
     collections, yet the Library has also received a significant 
     portion of its unparalleled collections as special gifts from 
     donors, collectors and Americans who aspire to preserve our 
     national heritage for generations to come.
       Without the generosity of such benefactors, the Library 
     would not have the diaries of Orville and Wilbur Wright, the 
     music of George and Ira Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein, the 
     outstanding Stern Collection of Abraham Lincoln materials, 
     the Rosenwald Collection of rare illustrated books from as 
     far back as the 15th century, or its largest manuscript 
     collection--from the NAACP.
       The Library has identified additional materials that, 
     because of their significance to American life and learning, 
     belong in the national library, where they will be preserved 
     and made available for future generations of Americans. Gifts 
     to the Nation is an opportunity to support the acquisition of 
     these important cultural legacies.
       A very special undertaking is the effort to rebuild the 
     original core of the Library--Thomas Jefferson's vast and 
     diverse personal collection--which he sold to Congress after 
     the British burned the U.S. Capitol, including the Library of 
     Congress, in 1814. Tragically, in 1851, nearly two-thirds of 
     Jefferson's library was destroyed in another Capitol fire. 
     Jefferson believed that there was ``no subject to which a 
     member of Congress may not have the occasion to refer,'' and 
     reconstructing his wide-ranging collection, the scope of 
     which is reflected in the current Library of Congress 
     holdings, will provide new insights into the mind of one of 
     our nation's greatest thinkers and reinforce the Jeffersonian 
     principle upon which the Library of Congress was built--that 
     free access of information and knowledge is one of the 
     cornerstones of democracy.
       To enhance the research opportunities at the Library, the 
     Bicentennial celebration also includes giving opportunities 
     for Endowed Chairs, Endowed Curatorships and National Focal 
     Points of Scholarship. Support of these programs will ensure 
     that experts

[[Page 5726]]

     from diverse fields of study use and write about the 
     Library's collections as well as provide advice on collection 
     policies for future acquisitions.
       How You Can Participate: If you would like to support Gifts 
     to the Nation, contact Winston Tabb, Associate Librarian for 
     Library Services, at (202) 707-6240 ([email protected]), or Norma 
     Baker, Director of the Development Office, at (202) 707-2777.

                          ____________________